I was a little surprised watching the funeral of Ted Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery with a reading of a letter Kennedy sent the Pope (hand delivered by President Obama) and a partial response from the Vatican by a secretary speaking for Pope Benedict.
Everyone knows the Kennedys were and are Catholic; remember the big deal about John Kennedy being a Catholic president and would he have to take orders from the Pope?
In the letter, Kennedy asked the Pope to pray for him. I guess if you really believe in your faith and think the Pope has some influence with god, than I guess when you are dying why not use up all your options. The problem here is that Kennedy is not seen as a good Catholic by the Vatican; after all, Kennedy champions abortion prochoice, stem-cell research and gay marriage. He has also been married a number of times and had other issues the Vatican did not like.
But you argue, Kennedy dedicated his life to serving the poor and downtrodden something akin to what Jesus did. But alas, Catholicism has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with the Pope and the Vatican. For all intents and purposes, the Vatican trumps Jesus, the Bible and god himself since the Vatican makes up what it thinks god says or wants.
But Kennedy, in his letter to the Pope, confirmed his deep belief in and regard for his Catholic faith which seems to indicate to me (and to many other Catholics) that being a Catholic does not necessarily mean accepting everything the Pope says or decrees as valid, authoritative or for that matter, even true. It’s as if the Pope just has an opinion on issues that can be disagreed with and ignored while still remaining true to the Catholic religion – interesting.
I did notice that Catholic big-wigs stayed on the sidelines during Kennedy’s funeral, no Cathedral and a retired bishop at the gravesite – interesting. I also recently learned that Caroline Kennedy was nixed as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican in favor of a pro-life Cuban-born professor of theology named Miguel Diaz – interesting.
I think the situation between American Catholicism and the Vatican is, in the long run, untenable; either we elect a liberal pope or we split as in schism from Rome. It has happened before and why not again; if we really think the Vatican is wrong in its stances on various issues how can we continue to be so hypocritical?
Kennedy would have been a good man to lead the Catholic opposition but in the end, when death was at the door, he decided to stick with the pope he did not agree with, just in case the pope really had some sway with the big guy – too bad.
Everyone knows the Kennedys were and are Catholic; remember the big deal about John Kennedy being a Catholic president and would he have to take orders from the Pope?
In the letter, Kennedy asked the Pope to pray for him. I guess if you really believe in your faith and think the Pope has some influence with god, than I guess when you are dying why not use up all your options. The problem here is that Kennedy is not seen as a good Catholic by the Vatican; after all, Kennedy champions abortion prochoice, stem-cell research and gay marriage. He has also been married a number of times and had other issues the Vatican did not like.
But you argue, Kennedy dedicated his life to serving the poor and downtrodden something akin to what Jesus did. But alas, Catholicism has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with the Pope and the Vatican. For all intents and purposes, the Vatican trumps Jesus, the Bible and god himself since the Vatican makes up what it thinks god says or wants.
But Kennedy, in his letter to the Pope, confirmed his deep belief in and regard for his Catholic faith which seems to indicate to me (and to many other Catholics) that being a Catholic does not necessarily mean accepting everything the Pope says or decrees as valid, authoritative or for that matter, even true. It’s as if the Pope just has an opinion on issues that can be disagreed with and ignored while still remaining true to the Catholic religion – interesting.
I did notice that Catholic big-wigs stayed on the sidelines during Kennedy’s funeral, no Cathedral and a retired bishop at the gravesite – interesting. I also recently learned that Caroline Kennedy was nixed as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican in favor of a pro-life Cuban-born professor of theology named Miguel Diaz – interesting.
I think the situation between American Catholicism and the Vatican is, in the long run, untenable; either we elect a liberal pope or we split as in schism from Rome. It has happened before and why not again; if we really think the Vatican is wrong in its stances on various issues how can we continue to be so hypocritical?
Kennedy would have been a good man to lead the Catholic opposition but in the end, when death was at the door, he decided to stick with the pope he did not agree with, just in case the pope really had some sway with the big guy – too bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment